The appointment of Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed as Managing Director of NIRSAL has been approved by the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
According to a statement by the Director, Corporate Communications Department of CBN, Mr. Ibrahim Mu’azu, the Governor also approved the appointment of Mr. Babajide Arowosafe as Executive Director for NIRSAL.
NIRSAL is an initiative of the CBN, the Bankers Committee (BC) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (FMA&RD).
In addition to many other functions, the company essentially administers a Risk Sharing Fund.
The fund was designed to identify, redefine, measure, re-price and evolve strategies to de-risk and catalyze lending to the Nigerian agriculture value chain.
NIRSAL was subsequently incorporated as a Public Limited Liability Company (PLC) and licensed as a Non-Bank Financial Institution (NBFI).
NIRSAL has the primary mandate of facilitating the flow of credit to agribusiness value chain players and collaborating with stakeholders to fix broken agricultural value chains in Nigeria.
“From inception in 2012 to date, 454 projects valued ₦61.161 billion have been guaranteed by NIRSAL,” Mr. Mu’azu stated.
The statement said that Abdulhameed holds a B.Sc. Degree in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and a Masters Degree in Public Administration with specialization in public policy.
“He also holds an executive masters certificate in project management from the Project Management College (UK).
“He has over 22 years experience in corporate agribusiness and in the field of agricultural finance and risk management.
“Mr. Abdulhameed is currently an executive team member of NIRSAL Plc,’’ the statement said.
On his part, Arowosafe has a first degree in agriculture and a master degree in agricultural policy and administration with wide-ranging experience in agriculture and micro-enterprises having worked in these fields for both the World Bank and the United Nations.
The statement reads further, “Most recently, Mr. Arowosafe was the commissioner for agriculture and natural resources in Ekiti state,’’ the statement said.
